Bathtime (etc) Ideas?

06-01-2008, 11:14 PM

So DS is 14 mo and has been walking for about 6 months. He has recently decided that he needs to stand in the tub (and on the beds). If I say "we dont stand in the tub" or "sit down please" or "we have to sit so we dont get ouchie" he will sit right down but we go through that at least 3 to a dozen times per bath. Bath time is kind of his wind down time before bed so taking him out completely for standing = stinky very fussy lil man. So any other ideas? I try and keep him busy playing but he is just so focused on standing up. He also likes to do this on the beds which most of the time I just take him down off of the bed but it doesnt stop him from standing right up the very next time. I definitely try and pick my battles but we seem to have a very accident prone (or shall we say seeker ) lil man that has had his share of bumps and bruises already. Thanks everyone!!

*chuckle* My 2 older kids were just like that. I tried to get my first to sit, to no avail, so I just bought a cover for the spout and a mat (sometimes I just used a big towel) for the tub. I also bought some fun games for the tub. These games didn't get her cranked up--rather, she would play with them over & over, so it was a repetitive wind-down.

And, honestly, it was a fairly short lived phase. Yes, my DS got many, many bruises, but nothing too bad

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I would say get a mat -- (and I didn't know they had covers for spouts? Sounds like a great idea too) -- as long as he's not jumping around in the tub, you won't have to worry as much about him getting hurt. My ds wouldn't sit down in the tub either for the longest time. It seemed like he just really didn't like the water. He now loves his baths though...

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you're describing my ds2 precisely. but, thankfully, it is a developmental phase and they eventually go back to sitting in the tub. i'm thinking that in the water, they like to feel the water pressure from sitting to standing. it's a very "cool" feeling when you're new to this earth.

as for standing on beds, all of our mattresses are on the floor. the couches, though, were a major headache until he got older and could negotiate w/his body better.

For things like this that are a safety thing, I let my DD see my fear of her getting hurt. I didn't curb it. She only tried standing a few times. I let her know that she really scared Mama and it is 'Dangerous' to stand in the tub and I "didn't want my Alya to get hurt".

I also always made it a point to have one hand near her at all times during these early months of exploration and if she did try to stand, I'd hold onto her and say, "If you want to stand, Mommy or Daddy need to be holding on to you". Further, I'd wash her up (head to toe) when we first go in there so that she could then just play afterwards. If she tried standing afterwards during play time, I did tell her that we'd have to get out of the bath so she can then stand outside the tub if standing was what she wanted. I never had to take her out for this, though she tested me a few times by doing those cute "half-stand/half-sit things".

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My husband built a shower in our bedroom. It's all tile, so my son can sit on a towel and even though I fill up his little tub with water, he wants to walk in and out of it, he doesn't care to sit down either.